Display device



March 14, 1939. G. s. WHIDDEN DISPLAY DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 File'd- Oct. 14, 1957 Jzz-J E if TL-nlD A wiza- I INVENTOR. @2212 5. WW?

March 14, 1939. s wHlDDEN 2,150,854

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed Oct 14, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M- INVENTOR.

54 1057 hhzzw fl; //y BY ATTO EY Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY DEVICE Glen S. Whidden, Lansing, Mich.

Application October 14, 1937, Serial No. 169,024

8 Claims.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a novelty, amusement or advertising display device which may be connected to a radio receiver. The device consists primarily of a semi-transparent or translucent screen which may be made of clear or colored glass formed into a dome-like or cylindrical shape inside of which are positioned a rotatable colored light filter, one or more lamps for projecting light through said filter upon the screen and an electromagnetic device adapted to be connected to the radio receiver for rotating said filter. The electro-magnetic device is provided with a winding which is connected through suitable circuit arrangement to be energized in accordance with signaling energy received by a radio receiver to produce certain attractive effects when the filter is rotated to vary the colors of the light projected to the screen.

The various features and details of construction of my invention will be more fully set forth in the following specification and drawings in which briefly, Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of connections; Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the display device in vertical elevation; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are detail views of bearings and electrical winding contacts; and Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are explanatory diagrams to illustrate the operation of certain features of my invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail reference numeral Ill designates a translucent or transparent cylindrical screen which may be made out of material such as glass, Celluloid, Bakelite or the like. This screen may be made out of clear or colored glass and the surface ground or sand blasted. If desired suitable designs may be painted, or printed or otherwise formed or fixed in or on surfaces of this screen. A permanent magnet ii of the horse shoe type is supported inside of the screen by suitable arms Ila which are attached to the magnet and to the screen. A small coil I2 comprising a plurality of turns of relatively fine Wire, the ends I20. and I2!) of which are connected to the upper and lower electrically conductive shafts I30 and IZd respectively, is supported in the magnetic field, that is, between the north and south poles of the magnet I I.

Suitable cement may be used for attaching this coil to the shafts. The shafts I20 and I2d are from each other by the small coupling insulated I2e which holds the shafts in spaced relation so that these shafts may be used as terminals for the aforesaid coil I2. The upper portion of the shaft I20 extends and fits loosely into the bearing I3 which Will be described more fully in further paragraphs of this specification. The lower shaft in the bearing I 4 which is attached to I2d rests the baseboard Icb. The lower edge of the screen I0 is fitted into a groove formed in the top edge of the supporting member Illa which is alsoattached apparatus.

Conducting wires I5 and I6 are connected to the electrically conductive bearings I3 and I4 respectively, for the purpose of connecting the ends I2a and I2b of the coil I2 to the points 22 and 23, respectively of the rectifier bridge circuit I! which includes the rectifier devices I8, I9, 2

The points 24 and 25 of the rectifier bridge circuit H are connected to the terminals of 0 and 2I.

the voice coil secondary 26 of the radio receiver output transformer 21.

The voice coil of the loudspeaker of the radio receiver is also connected to the secondary 26 of this transformer.

Normally the voice modulated electric current flowing through the secondary coil 26 is an alternating current. of the alternating current supplied by ondary is impressed across the bridge and rectified by the rectifying devices In the present invention part this seccircuit Il I8, I9, 20

and 2| so that the current fed to the coil I2 through the conductors I5 and I6 is a pulsating di rect current.

The lower shaft I2d associated with the coil I2 carries a colored translucent or semi-transparent disc 28.

This disc is divided into a plurality of sections or areas which are colored with various hues or colored shades as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Below the disc 28 are positioned the lamps 30 which are connected to a secondary winding 3| of the transformer 32.

This transformer 32 may be one of the power supply transformers in the radio receiver set, for example the transformer supplying the cathode heater circuits.

If desired however, the lamps 30 may be small lamps adapted to be connected directly to the volt lighting circuit.

When the lamps 30 are energized the light produced thereby is transmitted through the light filter 28 to the screen I0 and this screen is illumihated and various colored light patterns are produced thereon. These light patterns and effects are varied as the filter disc 28 is rotated through the action of the magnet II, the coil I2 and/or the bar 29 which is cemented, soldered, spot welded or otherwise attached to the shaft I20 or The rotation of the coil I2 is controlled by the electrical energy fed through it by the conductors I5 and I6, however this coil unit is provided with a polarizing member 29 of iron or other magnet material which is attracted by the magnetic lines of force of the magnet II and returns the coil into a predetermined position with respect to the poles of the magnet inasmuch as this polarizing bar 29 always tends to assume a position with its longest dimension parallel to the lines of force of the permanent magnet.

The electrical energy fed to the coil I2 is in the nature of a pulsating direct current modulated in accordance with the voice, music, sound or other mechanical vibrations forming the sig" nal received over the radio receiver. Inasmuch as this pulsating direct current is not of a steady nature the magnetic field produced by the flow of this current through the coil I2 will not be of continuous or steady nature. The reaction be tween the magnetic field of the permanent magnet and the magnetic field of the coil I2 will cause this coil to rotate and will also cause the circuit formed by the shaft I20 and the bearing I3 to be interrupted through vibration and rotation of the coil.

The bearing I3 is more clearly illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, '7 and 8. This bearing is purposely made to fit over the top of the shaft I2c rather loosely so that vibration or movement of the shaft will interrupt the electrical circuit between it and the shaft. When the shaft I2c is moved towards the center of the bearing I3 the contact is completely broken as is more clearly illustrated in Fig. 9 wherein the bearing is shown enlarged and the shaft I2c is shown in four different positions A, B, C and D. The path or locus of the shaft I2c is illustrated by the broken line. It is of course obvious that various paths may be taken by the shaft in the course of its movement with respect to the bearing and that herein set forth is by way of example only. The form of the path taken will of course be determined to a large extent by the frequency and amplitude of the pulsations of the pulsating current energizing the coil I2. By adjusting the position of the bearing I3 with respect to the end of the shaft I2c so that this end reaches either position a or position b, Fig. 7, the movement of the coil I2 also may be varied until the desired results are obtained. During the rotation of the coil l2 between the poles of the magnet II as illustrated in Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive, the coil subjected to the action of the magnetic field of the permanent magnet at all times even when this coil itself is not energized inasmuch as the polarizing bar 29 attached to the coil shaft is under the influence of the permanent magnet field. This polarizing bar is arranged so that it causes the coil I2 to be returned into the plane of the magnet poles when the coil is de-energized. At the same time as this takes place the end of the shaft I2c of course contacts the bearing I3 so that the circuit between this shaft and the bearing is complete to pass electrical energy to the coil. When the coil circuit including the conductors I5 and I6 and the rectifier is again energized, for instance by connecting the radio receiver to receive signal energy, the coil is in condition to again receive the pulsating direct current.

The effects obtained from the display device of my invention will be varied depending upon the rhythm of the music received, for example, under certain conditions this device may produce a smoothly or uniformally varied lighting on the screen whereas under other conditions, that is, when music or sound impulses of different rhythm characteristics are received, the lighting efiects produced may be non-uniformally changed because of the irregular rotation of the filter disc.

While I have described my invention in detail with respect to a certain preferred embodiment thereof it is of course obvious that modifications of my invention may be produced without departing from the spirit thereof and therefore I do not desire to limit the invention to the exact details shown and described except insofar as they are defined by the claims.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In display devices adapted to be connected to a radio receiver to be energized in accordance with signal energy the combination of a substantially translucent screen, an incandescent lamp for illuminating said screen from the inside, .a rotatable colored filter positioned over said lamp to vary the color of the light transmitted to said screen when said filter is rotated, a shaft for said rotatable filter, a coil of wire mounted on said shaft, means for producing a magnetic field around said coil, and means for impressing signal energy from the radio receiver on said coil to produce a second magnetic field to react with the aforesaid magnetic field to rotate said filter and vary the color effects produced on said screen.

2. A display device comprising a light filter member, electromagnetic means for rotating said filter, said electromagnetic means including means for producing a magnetic field, a coil in said field, shafts electrically connected to said coil and bearings for said shafts, means for interrupting the electrical contact between one of said bearings and the shaft associated therewith during the rotation of said light filter, a source of light positioned adjacent to said filter, and a screen adapted to be illuminated by different colored light of varying intensities as said light filter is rotated.

3. A device as defined by claim 1 in which said shaft is in two sections electrically separated from each other, connections between said shaft sections and the terminals of said coil of wire, bearings for said shaft, connections between said bearings and a source of current for energizing said coil of wire, one of said bearings and shaft sections forming a relatively loose electrical con tact adapted to interrupt the circuit to said coil of wire during movement of said coil of wire.

4. A display device comprising a light filter member, electromagnetic means for rotating said filter, said electromagnetic means including means for producing a magnetic field, a coil in said field, shafts electrically connected to said coil and bearings for said shafts, means for interrupting the electrical contact between one of said bearings and the shaft associated therewith during the rotation of said light filter, a magnetic polarizing member connected to said coil to return said coil to .a predetermined position, a source of light positioned adjacent to said filter, and a screen adapted to be illuminated by different lighting effects as said light filter is rotated.

5. A device as defined by claim 1 in which said shaft is in two sections electrically separated from each other, connections between said shaft sections and the terminals of said coil of wire, bearings for said shaft, connections between said bearings and a source of current for energizing said coil of wire, one of said bearings and shaft sections forming a relatively loose electrical contact adapted to interrupt the circuit to said coil of wire during movement of said coil of wire and a magnetic polarizing member connected to said coil to .a predetermined position when said coil is not energized.

6. A display device comprising a light filter member, electromagnetic means for rotating said filter, said electromagnetic means including means for producing a magnetic field, a coil in said field, shafts electrically connected to said coil and bearings for said shafts, means for interrupting the electrical contact between one of said bearings and the shaft associated therewith during the rotation of said light filter, a source of light positioned adjacent to said filter, a screen adapted to be illuminated by different colored light as said light filter is rotated, and means for connecting said coil to the output circuit of a radio receiver, said last mentioned means including a rectifier and matching circuit for matching the electrical characteristics of said coil to said output circuit.

7. An electromagnetic device comprising a coil of wire, a shaft for said coil, said shaft being in two sections electrically separated from each other, connections between said shaft sections and the terminals of said coil of wire, bearings for said shaft, connections between said bearings and .a source of current for energizing said coil of wire, one of said bearings and shaft sections forming a relatively loose electrical contact adapted to interrupt the circuit to said coil of wire during movement of said coil of wire, and means for connecting said coil to the output circuit of a radio receiver, said last mentioned means including a rectifier and matching circuit for matching the electrical characteristics of said coil to said output circuit.

8. A display device comprising a rotatable light filter, electromagnetic means for rotating said filter, connections for impressing modulated electrical energy from the output of signal amplifying means upon an energizing circuit of said electromagnetic means, means for interrupting the aforesaid energizing circuit during the energization thereof by said modulated electrical energy to produce discontinuous rotation of said light filter depending largely upon the character of the modulations of said electrical energy, a light source positioned adjacent to said filter, and a screen adaptedto be illuminated by different colored light of varying intensities as said light filter is rotated.

GLEN S. WHIDDEN. 

